My dad is doing his first fantasy hockey league (with my help) with the guys we normally do fantasy baseball with. This was the result from the draft (the entire league was auto draft, as was the fantasy baseball draft. I think it's for "parity"):

Steve wrote:I just did my first every fantasy hockey league - yahoo, standard scoring rules I think. 10 team league - I had the #10 pick, and I missed the first two rounds, Kessel & Staal were autopicked:

Those are two tough rounds to miss. As a result you don't have stud goaltender to offset the lack of a stud forward. But if Staal has a bounce back year and Kessel lights it up, and if Minnesota is strong this year, and if Hiller or Bernier maintains a chokehold on the #1 job... just a lot of ifs.

MRandall25 wrote:10 teams. That is also the order in which the players were drafted, so thank you ESPN for having Jussi Jokinen so far down.

Also forgot Conacher was traded to Ottawa

Yeah, I wanted to hop on the Juice train late in the rounds, but someone snatched him up before me.

But yeah, you can't ask for much better from an auto-draft. The wingers are the clear strength, the goaltending -should- be solid... only things that stand out is the D is a little questionable after Karlsson (could go either way with some of those players), and you don't really have a stud centerman, though Spezza could have a big year if he stays healthy and he and Ryan click (I'm counting on that too, haha).

MRandall25 wrote:so thank you ESPN for having Jussi Jokinen so far down.

Didn't ESPN project Dwayne Roloson to get 38 starts this season? I thought I saw that somewhere...ESPN is not exactly a trusted source for hockey anything...Burnside picked the Coyotes to win the Cup this year too...

MRandall25 wrote:10 teams. That is also the order in which the players were drafted, so thank you ESPN for having Jussi Jokinen so far down.

Also forgot Conacher was traded to Ottawa

Yeah, I wanted to hop on the Juice train late in the rounds, but someone snatched him up before me.

But yeah, you can't ask for much better from an auto-draft. The wingers are the clear strength, the goaltending -should- be solid... only things that stand out is the D is a little questionable after Karlsson (could go either way with some of those players), and you don't really have a stud centerman, though Spezza could have a big year if he stays healthy and he and Ryan click (I'm counting on that too, haha).

I told my dad to put Hall or someone else on the block and see what the offers are like.

MRandall25 wrote:so thank you ESPN for having Jussi Jokinen so far down.

Didn't ESPN project Dwayne Roloson to get 38 starts this season? I thought I saw that somewhere...ESPN is not exactly a trusted source for hockey anything...Burnside picked the Coyotes to win the Cup this year too...

I enjoy Burnside and Lebrun, as they generally take a more human approach to their coverage. But that Phoenix pick is mystifying. I guess he wanted to go off the board... He really went off the board.

Lots of people picking Detroit to make noise in the postseason, I guess thinking they'll feast on the teams in the East? Definitely possible, but not to the degree that folks have jumped on their wagon. I like the Weiss addition, but that D is lite.

The D has a lot of players that can't play two-ways very well. Since you guys will get to watch them more this year, watch Brendan Smith for Detroit, he's #2 I think, he might be the most fully functional turnover machine I've seen in a while...the machine has two switches: [ON] and [AUTO] and he's definitely set to [AUTO].

Zetterberg and Pasha are getting up there in years. They'll probably play together much more this year, but because Babcock loves Cleary and Abdelkader so much, they'll undoubtedly be saddled with one of those two as a winger which should slow them down just enough. Abdelkader is like us putting Kennedy on the top line with Crosby...he has a decent shot, but you still don't want him out there with your star player(s).

It's a good team though, and once those prospects get acclimated (Xavier Ouellet, Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist, etc.) they'll continue to carry on after Pasha and Zetterberg fade in mediocrity...

Kraftster wrote:I really like that team. I can't imagine how you landed Tavares, Quick, and Luongo. Although I guess the breakdown of stats could be 9:4 skaters, which could explain how there was a delay on goalies going.

I love Ryan this year. Really high on him, especially in hit/ppp leagues. His PPPs are going to blow up, even if his overall production doesn't go crazy. I wasn't able to get him in any of my 3 leagues, but I think he's in for a big year.

You also were able to find guys who score more than they assist for your skater positions. Huge with that scoring format. To think that you got Neal in the 4th round in that format is insane.

I haven't ever played a FW league, but from what I understand, you'll want to have a couple more centers. I'd probably drop Bennett for the best faceoff winning center out there (within reason in terms of other production). I think with all the multiple position eligibility out there this year, you'll want to have at least two guys in your wing slots taking draws regularly.

Thanks, appreciate the insight. You are correct re: scoring breakdown. I was surprised Tavares was still there at 5th overall. And I actually jumped on Neal in the 3rd, but lucked out with Luongo still around in the 4th -- And Lundqvist, Rask, Niemi, and Howard all went before Quick in the 2nd, so again, lucked out a bit there.

I actually looked over the teams as far as their center situations go, and it looks like only 1 team has one more center than I do, even with Ott unfortunately starting the season on Ennis' left wing, and no team has more than 2 wing-eligible centers, so I think I should be good there.

I'm just a bit hesitant with Bennett. Like you said, a real lineup strength is goal-scoring, so he could actually help balance that out a bit in the assist department, plus he throws the body around from time to time. It's an investment pick -- as long as it's not really hurting my team right now to have him, if he ends up eventually taking over the LW spot next to Geno as the season progresses, it could be a huge advantage once the playoffs roll around and the matchups really matter -- not bad, value-wise, for a final round pick.

The only available option that intrigued me was Charlie Coyle, as he's listed as a C/RW, and will centering Minny's 2nd/3rd line (I mean, they have two 3rd lines basically). He's not exactly a faceoff ace right now though, and there is the whole Minny vs. Pitt offense factor as well. All that coupled with the potential Bennett payoff down the line makes me inclined to hang on to Beau for the time being.

Edit: Some dude actually just dropped Dubinsky (C/LW). If he's still available on the 3rd, which is when I can pick him up, I'm gonna bite the bullet and drop Beau for him.

Steve wrote:I just did my first every fantasy hockey league - yahoo, standard scoring rules I think. 10 team league - I had the #10 pick, and I missed the first two rounds, Kessel & Staal were autopicked:

Those are two tough rounds to miss. As a result you don't have stud goaltender to offset the lack of a stud forward. But if Staal has a bounce back year and Kessel lights it up, and if Minnesota is strong this year, and if Hiller or Bernier maintains a chokehold on the #1 job... just a lot of ifs.

Yeah, definately - there were 9 goalies taken already, when I picked in round 3. This is the first time i've done a fantasy league - it's a mostly a bragging rights league, should be fun. I have some west coast players, maybe I'll be staying up a little later during the season haha...